Book Review: The Three Sisters by Heather Morris

The Three Sisters

by Heather Morris (Morris)

 

Based on a true story, The Three Sisters tells of three Jewish sisters who survive Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death marches across Europe, and then Communist rule in their home of Slovakia. It’s an emotional story that reveals the strength of love between sisters that endure the horrors of the concentration camps, and that goodness can be found even within those walls.

 

The story begins with the three very young sisters making a promise to their father that they will always stay together. Years later the youngest sister, Livia, is ordered by the Nazis to take a train to Auschwitz to “work for the Germans.” Her oldest sister Cibi, 19, goes with Livia even though Cibi was not named on the list. Cibi could hide out and avoid selection; It’s a decision that could easily take Cibi’s life. But because Cibi goes, Livia — one of the smallest girls in their group — is able to survive. Magda, age 17, ducks the Nazi forces for a time, but eventually she also ends up at Auschwitz-Birkenau. The sisters are reunited and find they have to support each other emotionally, as well as physically: those who fell during the death marches were shot on the spot. They also discover upon returning to their homeland that life is not easy under Communist rule and the people of their country still align against the Jews. Eventually the sisters travel to Israel, where they are able to establish a real home, and two still live there today. It is because of the love of the sisters and the kindness of strangers that these sisters survived against all odds.

 

Honestly, the book is not an easy book to read. The horrors that happened to the girls and to others at Auschwitz are difficult to comprehend. Also difficult to read is how some Jews lived while others died. One such example is when two sisters survive a bitter cold night after someone steals their blanket. They stumble outside to quicken their end and freeze to death outdoors. A kind soul convinces them to return and “finds” them a blanket, pulled from another set of girls. In the morning, those girls are found dead.

 

When I considered why I enjoyed this book I think too often we see pressure and stress causing the worst to squeeze out of people, especially during these trying times. So I found it uplifting to see that people can live through great adversity and tragedy and good can still be found.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, or The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.)

 

( official The Three Sisters page on the official Heather Morris web site )

 

Recommended by Cindy K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!